V. I. Lenin

Telegram to

UFA Gubernia Revolutionary Committee[1]

Written:5 or 6 February, 1919First Published:February 16, 1919 inZhizn NatsionalnosteiNo. 5 (13); Published according to the manuscriptSource:Lenin’sCollected Works, 4th English Edition, 	
	Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1972 Volume 28, page 445Translated:Jim RiordanTranscription/HTML Markup:David Walters & Robert CymbalaOnline Version:V. 	I.	Lenin 	Internet 	
	ArchiveMay, 2002

Ufa, Gubernia Revolutionary Committee Chairman

Propose not to alienate Khalikov and to grant amnesty on condition that a common front with Bashkir regiments is set up against Kolchak. The Soviet government pledges its full guarantee for Bashkir national freedom. But naturally, you must deal severely with counter-revolutionaries among Bashkir population and achieve de facto control to ensure proletarian reliability of Baslikir forces.

Lenin, Stalin

[1]The telegram was
      sent in reply to the Ufa Gubernia Revolutionary Committee's
      inquiry as to how it should act with regard to the  spokesman of
      the Bashkir bourgeois nationalist government. Khalikov, who had
      come for negotiations. Khalikov wanted an amnesty for Bashkirs
      who had fought Soviet power; he also in-formed the Committee
      that Bashkir troops were now joining the Red Army. The telegram,
      beginning with the words “But naturally”, was
      written by Lenin.